Glasgow is among the best served cities in the UK for the provision of taxis and private hire vehicles, by the measure of number of vehicles per head of population.

Despite this, questions have been raised recently by members of Glasgow’s business community, most vocally by the hospitality sector, regarding the number of taxi and private hire vehicles, questioning if it is negatively impacting on people when considering coming into the city.

Specifically, it was suggested by some that it is the current agreed cap – which is 1238 taxi licences and 3450 private hire car licences – that is causing this problem in that, in their opinion, it is too low.

In their view, in simple terms, there are not enough taxis on the road therefore raising the number further or even lifting the cap entirely will improve the provision and can singularly revive Glasgow’s nighttime economy.

In our qualified opinion, what Glasgow experiences at present is no different from the challenges facing other UK cities in relation to the nighttime economy. Increasing the cap or removing it all together will have no impact, as has been attempted elsewhere, or worse still, could cause further damage to Glasgow. Some of these other cities have no cap, yet it has made no difference.

It is no more or less difficult to get a taxi home in Glasgow at peak times today than it was 10 years ago. That is unchanged and that is simply a matter of capacity. What has changed is people’s behaviour, what they seek from the nighttime economy, with a new desire for experiences rather than drinking sessions.

Consumer behaviour in Glasgow, and other cities, has changed for a number of reasons. People have been reprogrammed during Covid into a different lifestyle with a new desire for different experiences than previously. The cost-of-living crisis is another major factor. Glasgow’s hard drinking culture is diminishing, ever-increasing numbers of young people don’t drink at all. That’s just some headline factors, there are many more.

Given all this, the nighttime economy of Glasgow and the businesses at the heart of it, need to look at what they are offering and understand that the demand for taxis and private hire vehicles has in fact been reduced. Increasing volume or removing the cap is no solution, it only adds more problems.

Taxis and private hire cannot be the overall solution to all public transport problems. All the other public transport providers need to consider their offering in terms of times and scheduling of services. Glasgow Taxis are part of a working group working in conjunction with all public transport providers, and Glasgow City Council, to explore resolutions which we are committed to doing.

Just last week, this debate has led to Glasgow City Council agreeing to a consultation which, again in layman’s terms, will review the existing cap and the numbers of taxis and private hire vehicles serving Glasgow. It should be said, such a review of numbers is a normal thing that happens every couple of years for the city. The second part of this consultation however will be to review whether the longstanding policy to cap the numbers is still relevant.

The outcome of this is critical for Glasgow and for the trade and we must settle on a proper solution. The consequences of getting this wrong would be making the situation worse than it already is by way of a reduction in the provision of public transport, by making it financially unviable for operators already up against challenging conditions.

What happens next? The road to the consultation agreed last week will take place soon so that everyone can have their say.

We understand the question asked will be: “Whether the policies limiting the number of taxis and private hire cars in the city are still necessary and proportionate and whether they continue to be in the public interest”

We will have plenty to say and we will say it – and encourage our taxi owners, our members, our drivers and our staff to have their say too.

Let’s get this right together, and work as a city to develop a fully joined-up and comprehensive transport infrastructure and service provision overall which the city of Glasgow and the people who live here or visit here deserve.